Connecticut eyes big profits from sports betting and marijuana

The state of Connecticut is eyeing off tax revenue in sports betting and marijuana.

The USA has severely softened on sports betting in recent months with numerous casinos already taking in legal wagers, such as Monmouth Park in New Jersey. Meanwhile, a relaxed legal attitude towards recreational marijuana has spread across the US and neighbouring Canada.

According to a CNBC.com article on July 10th (author: Bob Woods), as much as $2 billion in bets might be made in Connecticut. In a state that doesn’t offer much in regard to professional top-level teams, partisan-Connecticut punters would probably target college teams.

Hartford is one of the largest cities in Connecticut, but their NHL team left town ages ago, becoming the Carolina Hurricanes. Now, the state of Connecticut rarely makes headlines in sports, except for in college basketball where the UCONN Huskies’ women’s team seems like annual favorites for the NCAA basketball title.

On the matter of taxing pot sales, Sam Tracy, the director of the Connecticut Coalition to Regulate Marijuana, said that “Legal weed won’t solve the state’s $2.2 billion deficit, but it’s certainly something the legislature should be looking at.”

But there are some serious matters in Connecticut on both the Wacky Tabacky and sports-betting fronts. Political barriers exist for each and sports betting might not be coming soon.

However, when the politicians are eyeballing tax dollars that does create willpower and, as the saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Connecticut is close to the state of New York on America’s east coast. New York is one state that is slow to the punch when it comes to offering sports betting. That means the nearby states can try to attract tourists from New York. Given the population of that state, there is a big incentive for the small state of Connecticut to legalise when it comes to chasing down tourism revenue related to both pot and sports betting.